CHENNAI: Magnus Carlsen spoke about his opponent Anand, his experience in India and much more...

On Vishy Anand:

He has been the world champion for so long. One of the greatest of all time. I am honoured to have played the match with him. And of course, very, very happy to have got the better of him. I hope he will be back in the Candidates. My experience in India has been great. I'm sorry the match turned out the way it did.

On his preparation for the match:

I mostly worked on the openings before the tournament . I think end game, middle game, calculating stuff come mostly with tournament practice . In that sense, I didn't do anything particular in those departments . It's just one of my strengths.

On whether he induced Anand into making mistakes :

Sure. People crack under pressure in World Championships . That's what history shows. You have to keep on pushing. And eventually, things go right. The blunders that he made are unusual . It has to do with pressure. That's really what I wanted to do in this match. Make him sit on the board for a long time and make him play.

On the off-board tactics influencing on-board play:

Most of the games were decided on the board. Maybe there was some psychological warfare. But I didn't notice it.

On how many games he thought he would win here:

Never thought about that. I thought any result that had more wins for me than Anand would be fine.

Will he reveal his seconds?

I don't know. It's no secret that Hammer has been working for me. And he has done the great job and so have the others. I am grateful to them for their hard work.

On chess' appeal in Norway:

The match was shown on TV. A lot of people who don't play chess found it interesting to follow. I really hope that this will have a positive effect for chess both in Norway and worldwide.